In Search of a Siberian KlondikeVanderlip, Washington Baker
History
In Search of a Siberian Klondike
Vanderlip, Washington Baker
Gold mines and mining -- Russia (Federation) -- Siberia; Siberia (Russia) -- Description and travel
We had congratulated ourselves upon the ease and rapidity of our run
down-stream, when suddenly we sighted white water below and knew
there was serious trouble ahead. Our raft was so light that usually it
would pass over any obstacles in the bed of the stream or at most
scrape lightly upon them, turn around once or twice, and then float
off into smooth water below. Of course, if the rocks came above the
surface it was an easier matter to go around them. We managed to pass
through these rapids successfully, but immediately below them we saw
that the stream divided into two parts, the channel to the left
appearing to be the better one. We guided our raft accordingly, and
soon found ourselves rushing down a gorge at railroad speed. The cañon
began to "box up" in an ugly manner, and our pace became so great that
we lost control of our little craft. Sweeping around a bend, we saw
that a great tree had been undermined by the water, and had fallen out
over the stream so that two thirds of the narrow channel was
completely blocked. We strove with might and main to pull the raft to
one side in order to evade disaster, but she might as well have been
an ocean steamer for all the effect of our futile endeavors. We swept
under and among the branches of the tree, and though we hugged the
raft as closely as possible, we were both brushed clean off. I seized
a branch and tried to draw myself up, but the current snatched me
away, and I was swept down-stream. I fought to regain the surface,
but could not do it. My head was fairly bursting, when I felt the
current pushing me up, and suddenly I was shot out of the water and
rolled up on a wooden incline. As soon as I could collect my wits I
found, to my amazement, that I was on the raft again. It had landed
against a rock in a shelving position, with the lower side under the
water, and the water itself had provided, in an almost miraculous
manner, the means which alone could save my life. Almost the first
thing I saw was a hand above the water, grasping the edge of the raft,
and another feeling eagerly for a place to get hold. Poor Fronyo was
under water and evidently far gone. I thrust my arm in up to the
shoulder, and got hold of his hair, and I had little difficulty in
dragging him out and up on the raft. He was almost unconscious. I took
him by the collar and the seat of the pants, and, by pounding his
stomach on the pack, soon relieved him of the water he had swallowed.
Twenty minutes later I was rejoiced to see him quite himself again,
although very weak.
[Illustration: "Kim" in Summer Camp on Tundra.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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